Omnicare reaches $4 million settlement over charges of receiving kickbacks for putting SNF residents on Aranesp

Omnicare, the nation's largest long-term care pharmacy, has reached a $4 million settlement agreement over allegations that the company conspired with a pharmaceutical company to switch nursing home residents to the anemia drug Aranesp, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.

“Americans who rely on federal healthcare programs, particularly vulnerable patients in skilled nursing facilities, are entitled to feel confident that decisions about their medical care are not tainted by improper financial arrangements,” said Stuart F. Delery, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division.

Omnicare did not admit to any wrongdoing under the settlement, and chose to enter into the agreement to avoid litigation that would distract from its mission of serving seniors, an Omnicare spokesman said in a statement to McKnight's.

Charges also have been brought against long-term care pharmacy PharMerica and provider Kindred Healthcare for engaging in the supposed scheme to push the anemia drug, and those matters continue to be pursued, according to Grant & Eisenhofer, the law firm representing the whistleblower.

Drug substitutions saved the government $13 million last year, but more drug substitutions under Medicare Part B would have saved an additional $6 million, the Office of Inspector General for Health and Human Services concluded in a recent report to Congress.